Four years of 5:30 a.m.

This is Brandon walking out the door to early morning Seminary for the last time. To make it to Seminary on time, he leaves a little after 6 a.m. As he left, I grabbed my camera to document the moment, because it felt like the end of quite a journey.

As Brandon ate breakfast the morning of this picture, we reminisced about when he started Seminary as a freshman. We had moved to Washington the day before school began and were living in the Marriott Residence Inn while house hunting. The hotel was about a 20 minute drive to the church where Seminary was held. We would leave at about 5:40 a.m. in the dark, stopping at the lobby of the hotel to grab some breakfast (Brandon had biscuits and gravy and a chocolate muffin every day) and a newspaper. I would drive him to the building and wait in the car for an hour, reading the paper and eating my breakfast. Then I would drop him off him to school and drive back to the hotel, where I was home schooling the girls until we bought a house and knew which elementary school they would attend. It was a really challenging time in our lives. We lived in the Residence Inn for three months before settling into our house, which was a only a five minute drive to the church.

We continued driving him each day of his freshman year. We didn't know anyone well enough that year to carpool or help with rides to school after Seminary. Sophomore year he got a ride with the Zach McDonnell, and then Junior and Senior years he drove himself to Seminary. As Senioritis kicked in the last few months, it got harder and harder for him to get up and out the door in time for Seminary, but he persisted, and he graduated from Seminary last Sunday and was a "master scriptorian," having memorized all the Scripture Mastery verses each of the four years.

There is something to be said for the sacrifice of having Seminary early in the morning. It tests commitment and desires to learn spiritual things rather than sleep another hour. Brandon always felt that his day started better when he started with Seminary. There were days when he struggled to get up. Some days he didn't make it. Some days he made it, but late. I learned that it is important to me to interact with each kid in the morning, so I got up (bleary-eyed and wild hair) to fix breakfast each day of Seminary (Dan shared this responsibility also). I see this as precious time in the morning, touching base before the child heads off to the temptations and struggles of high school.

I am grateful for the chance we have had to choose something even better than sleep. I am also grateful that we have a year off of Seminary before we begin the journey anew with Bailey!